A club member recently went to take a look at this year’s 1000 Bike Show in Germiston, Johannesburg on July the 6th 2013. The 1000 Bike Show is run by the Classic Motorcycle Club in Johannesburg which is a much bigger organisation than our own CMCC and they certainly weren’t lying about the 1000 bit … We’ve never seen so many great classic bikes in one place. Lots of them should have been in a museum behind protective glass but lots of them also looked like they were still being ridden and enjoyed today.

A 1913 Clyno bike with 5hp

The bikes were organised by manufacturer, with plenty of makes that have been extinct for a long time. It was really encouraging to see so many people committed to keeping old bikes alive and running. Some highlights were the rows of old identical BMW’s as well as newer classics like Honda CB-X’s and Suzuki GT-750’s. Even a modern era Norton Commando caught our eye as a desirable piece of machinery.

Norton Commando 961

Most of the people displaying were happy to chat about their bikes and explain the subtleties between all the different bikes on display. There was plenty of oil on the floor as well as some poorly silenced race bikes that made an impressive racket. If you want to know more about the classic bike club event with lots of pictures then you can click here.

The whole thing was well worth a visit (even if you like sporty modern bikes) and taught us that if you think kickstarting a single cylinder 500 is tricky then you should try taking a 6yr old and 8yr old to a classic bike show and expect them to show some interest in anything other than candyfloss. Congratulations to the CMC Johannesburg for putting together such a great classic bike event, the gallery of our pictures of some bygone machines is below.